Copal Shutters

Copal brand shutters were supplied by all the major view camera lens manufacturers with their lenses. These excellent quality shutters had been made virtually unchanged for over twenty years by Nidec Copal Corp, Tokyo, Japan. They were available in two different types and several different sizes. Unfortunately Copal ceased production in 2016 and there is currently no new alternative.

As of April, 2020 we only have Copal Press Shutters in stock.

The Copal Shutter

Copal Brand shutters were manufactured by Copal Co, Tokyo, Japan until 2016. Copal shutters were supplied with Schneider, Rodenstock, Fuji , etc view camera lenses, they are simple, reliable, and economical. The performance and price of Copal shutters is such that they are often a practical improvement over restoration or repair of obsolete or worn equipment. Many lenses will fit directly from their old shutters to new, needing only the appropriate iris scale and mounting to the lens board. We routinely complete changeovers to new shutters, mounted to your lens board and ready to use.

We no longer stock this style of Copal shutter, but do supply retaining rings, iris scales and assorted replacement parts. Current sources for the leaf shutters include 3rd party vendors or used camera vendors.

Standard Copal Shutter Measurements

	#0	#1	#3	#3s
front thread	M29.5-0.5	M40-0.75	M58-0.75	M56-0.75
back thread	M29.5-0.5	M36-0.75	M58-0.75	M56-0.75
overall thickness	20 mm	20 mm	32 mm	28.6 mm
front to shutter	10.2 mm	10.75 mm	17.7 mm	16.25 mm
mount thread	M32.5-0.5	M39-0.75	M62-0.75	M61-0.75
lensboard hole	34.6 mm	41.6 mm	65 mm	64.1 mm
iris dia	24 mm	30 mm	45 mm	45 mm

Copal Shutter spec drawings

The Copal Press Shutter

The Press Shutter operates differently from the standard version. In the standard version, the shutter is operated on a “set and release” principle. That is, a finger operation is needed to “cock” (in reality, “wind up”) the shutter. Operation is then by cable release or the release lever. The advantage of this design is twofold: First there is speed of operation, the shutter is always ready for exposure and never needs to be cocked.

Second, and of great importance especially to architectural photographers is the ability to make multiple exposures without any risk of disturbing the camera setup. This means that you can take a flash picture, move the flash to another place, make another exposure, and repeat this procedure to light up a large area with only one or two flash heads. With the shutter set at 1/125 second ambient light will not add up and very dramatic results can be obtained. In the case of the Press shutter, all the operation is done via the release lever or cable release. Some extra energy is needed since the cable release actually winds up the mechanism of the shutter. Most of the specifications are the same as the ordinary shutters except for a few internal distances that only effects 1-2 lenses.

We routinely install lenses in these shutter from the Copal standard version. Because of the differences between the shutter versions some attention and experience is needed to ensure proper operation. Iris scales from the standard shutter do not fit the Press shutter. There are a few other points of difference:

Top speeds are slower: fastest speed is 1/125 sec
#0 Minimum iris opening is 2 mm on the press, 1.5 mm on regular.
#1 Minimum iris opening is 2.5mm on the press, 2 mm on regular.
The iris is about 0.75mm farther back in the shutter.
The iris diaphragm is a spring loaded affair that is held open when the press focus is operated. All “press” viewing is at full aperture. In order to view thru a selected aperture the shutter must be set to “B” or “T”
Not available in #3 size.

Copal Press Shutter Measurements

	#0	#1
front thread	M29.5-0.5	M40-0.75
back thread	M29.5-0.5	M36-0.75
overall thickness	20 mm	20 mm
front to shutter	11.7 mm	11.7 mm
mount thread	M32.5-0.5	M39-0.75
lensboard hole	34.6 mm	41.6 mm
iris dia	24 mm	30 mm
price*	$426.00	$585.00